Spartans Upended by League Champion Beavers
Feb 28, 2015 | None
DUBUQUE, Iowa - The University of Dubuque men's basketball held the IIAC Championship finish in their hands on Wednesday, but it was a hot shooting Buena Vista University Beaver team which snatched it away for their own with a 94-80 victory over the Spartans. BV jumped out to an early lead and everytime the Spartans rallied to within a handful of points, BV responded with a deep three pointer.
The Spartans ended Wednesday tied with Coe College for second place in the Iowa Conference with a lone game remaining at 9-4 in league action. All but the last #6 seed remains as the conference regular season winds to a close. UD will host Luther College Norse (9-15 overall, 5-8 in IIAC) on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 4:00 p.m. while the IIAC Champion Beavers (18-6 overall, 11-2 in IIAC) travel to play the Coe College Kohawks (15-9 overall, 9-4 in IIAC) in Cedar Rapids.
UD sank 32-74 shot attempts for a respectable 43.2%, unfortunately BV was shooting at a sizzling 50.8% and sinking 12 treys. The taller Beavers handled the Spartans by out rebounding UD 43-32. The Spartans misses were quickly put back into play helping set-up a fast paced high scoring Beaver offense. Andre Norris led all scorers with 32 points as teammate Gage Heffernan was held to 12 points. Lucas Ware finished with 11 points along with Kain Arthofer who came off the bench to add 11 points. A trio of Beavers would finish with 26, 26, 23 scoring nearly 80% of their teams points.
The Iowa Conference Tournament begins on Feb. 24 with opening rounds at sites to be announced. The #1 and #2 seeds will host semi-final contests with winners from Tuesday. Winners on Thursday, Feb. 26 will be playing IIAC Championship game at highest remaining seed on Saturday, Feb. 28. The winner of the 2015 IIAC Men's IIAC Tournament earns the automatic berth into the NCAA Division III National Tournament beginning in March.
2014-2015 Men's Basketball Standings
| School | IIAC | All |
|---|---|---|
| Buena Vista -y | 11-2 | 18-6 |
| Dubuque -x (RV) | 9-4 | 19-5 |
| Coe -x | 9-4 | 15-9 |
| Central -x | 7-6 | 14-10 |
| Wartburg -x | 6-7 | 13-11 |
| Luther | 5-8 | 9-15 |
| Loras | 4-9 | 9-15 |
| Simpson | 1-12 | 6-18 |
|
y - Iowa Conference champion
x - clinched IIAC Tournament berth (xx) - D3hoops.com Poll Ranking
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